CO - Possible Serial Shooter Has Colorado Drivers on Edge #3

[Forager]

I got a little better read from a knowledgable friend on the capabilities of air guns that might help us consider what kind of weapon the I-25 window shatterer(s) use:

"There are all kinds of airguns that shoot a variety of projectiles (BB’s, darts, lead pellets, even cast slugs). There are all kinds of airguns (spring powered, pump powered, C02, Pre-Charged Pneumatic). There are all kinds of powers levels ranging from a Wal-Mart bought pop-can shooter, to a handmade unit for hunting big game.

That being said a BB traveling at a VERY high velocity could penetrate or shatter a window. A pellet could also penetrate and shatter a window, but it would have to hit the window perpendicular. A lead pellet would almost always become completely flattened upon impact. A cast slug could easily break a window. Generally speaking the projectile would have to be shot within 0-50 yards to retain enough energy to damage anything. And in nearly all cases (except for a cast slug) the projectile should be found in the vicinity of the damage."

 

[margarita25]

I got a little better read from a knowledgable friend on the capabilities of air guns that might help us consider what kind of weapon the I-25 window shatterer(s) use:

"There are all kinds of airguns that shoot a variety of projectiles (BB’s, darts, lead pellets, even cast slugs). There are all kinds of airguns (spring powered, pump powered, C02, Pre-Charged Pneumatic). There are all kinds of powers levels ranging from a Wal-Mart bought pop-can shooter, to a handmade unit for hunting big game.

That being said a BB traveling at a VERY high velocity could penetrate or shatter a window. A pellet could also penetrate and shatter a window, but it would have to hit the window perpendicular. A lead pellet would almost always become completely flattened upon impact. A cast slug could easily break a window. Generally speaking the projectile would have to be shot within 0-50 yards to retain enough energy to damage anything. And in nearly all cases (except for a cast slug) the projectile should be found in the vicinity of the damage."

Could any of these kill a person? I've been meaning to ask this for a while, if it could be possible that Jacoby and/or Connole were killed with a "nontraditional" bullet, for lack of a better word.

 

[DeDee]

The serial highway attacks are terrorizing, but they should't be. With few exceptions, they don't much hurt anyone physically. (Easy for me to say from my desk, I'll grant.) And remember that we're talking about random serial highway attacks. Targeted attacks, which almost never happen in series, tend to be more lethal.

As to stats on the various series, here's what I had as of a few days ago for 2015 from an earlier post. The numbers count 'incidents', one for each motorist attacked. The Colorado series are in red. Other jurisdictions do seem to be more forthcoming about their incidents, at least once the press starts asking about them. I think that there is a universal tendancy for first responders to be dismissive of less blatant incidents like window shatterings - unless it happens to them. When a police vehicle gets hit, highways get shut down and manhunts initiated.

View attachment 83034

Here is the spreadsheet on which I try to track them. It's in need of some updates at the moment.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HhEltIWV-FlpJxZ6F_QEuVgSyY7Fc1C6ztmJ3hRghAA/edit

Forager, the immense amount of time you have invested is worth a million dollars. I am left speechless. My head bows to you. The post has been bookmarked for future reference. Perhaps this work should be sent out to all state Highway Departments as a visual of the big picture.

While I don't expect highways to be closed for a window shattering on my behalf, there is a reasonable expectation of a full investigation, if the incident is reported to the authorities. Some of the documented incidences are isolated random acts such as the one in Hawaii in 2011 where it was most likely just one meany cat who perpetrated the crimes on one day. More study of the magnitude included in your amazing spreadsheet is needed before determining the probable cause and relation between the incidents. Since I am late coming to the PSS thread, all of you are far more familiar with the data contained within these incidence reports.

We should be allowed to expect a reasonable amount of safety while traveling our American Highways without fear of a possible window shattering leading to trauma, injury or death. It appears there is some connection to these reports. Can this many different people just randomly decide to shoot out windows? They, whoever they are, appear to be using some form of communication ("It's your turn.") that we have yet to discover.

This is why I categorize the incidents as intentional terror attacks:

From Michigan Sept 30 Updated Oct 1 http://woodtv.com/2015/09/30/report-of-damaged-vehicle-near-athens/

Victim: “Very shaky and scary to walk outside right now, ’cause you don’t know what’s going to happen. Somebody could be shooting across and it could be you, the next person,” Piccard said.

Sheriff: “With the incident yesterday and the evidence we do have, it does appear that it was intentional, rather than accidental,” Saxton said.

 

[Forager]

Could any of these [pellet or BB air guns] kill a person? I've been meaning to ask this for a while, if it could be possible that Jacoby and/or Connole were killed with a "nontraditional" bullet, for lack of a better word.

I'm far from an expert, but I don't think a commerially manufactured airgun could normally be expected to kill someone. A custom made one might.

I don't see an advantage to an attacker in using one, though. An airgun firing large enough "pellets" at fast enough speeds to be dependably lethal would probably be almost as loud as a firearm, and much louder than a firearm fitted with a supressor (a "silencer"). If the I-25 window shatter(s) have been using air guns, it's probably because they are quieter and less powerful than a .22, IMO.

A high end air gun might fit, but I can't discount Foxfire's theory that a firearm and frangible bullets are involved. I recently read a post on a social media forum devoted to guns in which the poster said that he had shot frangibles at a windshield and that they shattered but did not "penetrate" them. He didn't say which kind of frangibles he was using.

 

[Forager]

Forager, the immense amount of time you have invested is worth a million dollars... . <snipped, respectfully, for focus> Perhaps this work should be sent out to all state Highway Departments as a visual of the big picture.

... there is a reasonable expectation of a full investigation, if the incident is reported to the authorities. Some of the documented incidences are isolated random acts such as the one in Hawaii in 2011 where it was most likely just one meany cat who perpetrated the crimes on one day. More study of the magnitude included in your amazing spreadsheet is needed before determining the probable cause and relation between the incidents. Since I am late coming to the PSS thread, all of you are far more familiar with the data contained within these incidence reports.

We should be allowed to expect a reasonable amount of safety while traveling our American Highways without fear of a possible window shattering leading to trauma, injury or death. It appears there is some connection to these reports. Can this many different people just randomly decide to shoot out windows? They, whoever they are, appear to be using some form of communication ("It's your turn.") that we have yet to discover.

<snipped for focus >

I like it, DeDee, but you're going to get me generating long boring posts if you go taking me seriously. You put your finger on it in saying that we need to better understand the "cause and relationship between the incidents." We don't understand them, and only have a shakey grasp on the counts involved. I've tried to be careful about pulling together my list of shooting "clusters" nationally, but am worried that it paints an unrealistic picture of rapid growth over time. I think it has been growing, but can't be sure that we aren't just reading more about an old phenomenon that we'd never much looked at before.

The history of "road rage" makes fascinating (and funny) reading. Joel Best, a sociologist, devotes a chapter to it in his book How Claims Spread: Cross-National Diffusion of Social Problems (Pub. by Aldine de Gruyter, NY, NY, 2001). The British press coined the phrase in the mid '90's, dreamed up some statistics for it, got a huge discussion going about it and established it as a class of criminal behavior. There were some skeptics: "Road Rage? Isn't that blokes being aresholes in cars as well as everywhere else?" (p. 111).

America imported the concept in the late '90's. The national conversation was long on conclusions about the causes and effects, but short on data and analysis. There were some doozies of misused statistics. Pretty soon studies of road rage were being presented in Congress in support of features of transportation legislation backed by highway safety and insurance industry organizations. The mental health profession declared it a mental disorder (that it could treat, of course).

(pg. 113)


(pg. 114)


I dread to think of the hay that the punditry, social media, LE, and the national security industry could make of the "serial highway shooter" phenomenon, especially if a terrorist connection is discovered. (None has so far).

 

[e-sherlockholmes]

I'm far from an expert, but I don't think a commerially manufactured airgun could normally be expected to kill someone. A custom made one might.

I don't see an advantage to an attacker in using one, though. An airgun firing large enough "pellets" at fast enough speeds to be dependably lethal would probably be almost as loud as a firearm, and much louder than a firearm fitted with a supressor (a "silencer"). If the I-25 window shatter(s) have been using air guns, it's probably because they are quieter and less powerful than a .22, IMO.

A high end air gun might fit, but I can't discount Foxfire's theory that a firearm and frangible bullets are involved. I recently read a post on a social media forum devoted to guns in which the poster said that he had shot frangibles at a windshield and that they shattered but did not "penetrate" them. He didn't say which kind of frangibles he was using.

Depends. In some countries, some commercially sold airguns are classified as firearms because their muzzle velocity exceeds the threshold. People have also been known to modify parts of the airgun, such as its valve, to increase muzzle velocity of the airguns to bring them to a firearm classification, just like how some people modify semi-auto guns and turn them full-auto.

In the US, airguns are not firearms due to the nature of which they propel the projectile.

I guess it 'can' kill if it hits the right spots? Airguns are used very effectively for hunting pests etc.

 

[Foxfire]

'I knew from past reports that there were active ISIS investigations by the FBI in all US states, but had no idea that the numbers were so great'..

Just an FYI:

Oct. 23, 2015 - FBI director: 900 active ISIS investigations in US. - Comey says the number of those investigations has been 'slowly climbing'...
<Video>

 

[cujenn81]

'I knew from past reports that there were active ISIS investigations by the FBI in all US states, but had no idea that the numbers were so great'..

Just an FYI:

Oct. 23, 2015 - FBI director: 900 active ISIS investigations in US. - Comey says the number of those investigations has been 'slowly climbing'...
<Video>

[emoji33][emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]

 

[Forager]

'I knew from past reports that there were active ISIS investigations by the FBI in all US states, but had no idea that the numbers were so great'..

Just an FYI:

Oct. 23, 2015 - FBI director: 900 active ISIS investigations in US. - Comey says the number of those investigations has been 'slowly climbing'...
<Video>

We'll probably have a long wait to know if there is any overlap between the highway attacks and the ISIS investigations. Maybe until more cases are solved and adjudicated. I wish we'd hear something about M.P.Whitaker.

A lot of those 900 ISIS investigations will turn out to be of pretty marginal national security threats. NPR had posted a piece that identified "... all the known U.S. cases with an ISIS link", sixty plus at writing back in June '15. Most of those cases involved people, mostly young, going to places like Syria, or talking on the internet about trying to become a terrorist, often with an FBI plant. The list of the first 60 cases may just include the simplist, quickest cases, with more threatening efforts among the 900 still under investigation, but those 60 didn't amount to much of a domestic threat.

Who Are America's Suspected ISIS Followers?
JUNE 05, 2015 4:52 PM ET
Dina Temple-Raston

 

[margarita25]

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/10/23/could-isis-be-behind-state-troopers-fake-facebook-account/74496024/

"KUSA - Anti-terrorism experts believe ISIS sympathizers may have tried to gather intelligence about Colorado police officers through a fabricated Facebook profile.

The Colorado Information Analysis Center put out a national Officer Safety Bulletin after being tipped off to a fake Facebook account using the identity of a real retired Colorado state trooper. The alert was issued on October 15, just days after the profile was discovered."

 

[margarita25]

Possibly o/t:

Off-duty officer shoots at road rage suspect
http://www.9news.com/story/news/loc...officer-shoots-at-road-rage-suspect/74599670/

"GOLDEN - An off-duty police officer who witnessed a road rage incident in Golden fired his weapon at the suspect Sunday afternoon.

Golden police say the off-duty officer called 911 and reported that he was following a road rage incident between a motorcycle and a white Nissan sedan near eastbound 6th Avenue and the Junction of Highway 58."

*more at link

 

[margarita25]

Two sunroofs shatter beneath underpasses on I-25
http://www.coloradoan.com/story/new...ofs-shatter-beneath-underpasses--25/74658548/

"Two sunroofs shattered on Interstate 25 an hour and a few miles apart in Larimer County on Monday evening while both vehicles drove beneath underpasses.

The sunroof of a Toyota Camry shattered at 4:19 p.m. as the driver traveled beneath an underpass on I-25 between the Windsor and Harmony Road in Fort Collins exits, said Colorado State Patrol spokesman Trooper Nate Reid. The responding trooper found nothing suspicious about the incident, Reid said. It's unknown in which direction the driver was traveling.

At 5:13 p.m., the sunroof of an unknown type of Cadillac shattered as the motorist drove northbound through an underpass at mile marker 271, between Colorado Highway 14 and the Mountain Vista exit. As of 6 p.m. Monday, troopers were still working that case. Reid said CSP was unlikely to have an update on the incident Monday night."


*Veeeery interesting locations...

Forager!

 

[margarita25]

Following up the burning truck incident, the victims have been id'd:
http://www.9news.com/story/news/cri...n-suspicious-car-fire-that-killed-2/74654650/

Following up the road rage incident and shooting by the off duty cop in Golden, the officer as well as motorcyclist suspect have also been id'd:
http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/10/26/road-rage-incident-golden/74629886/

 

[margarita25]

Court docs: Jesse Wright, accused of shooting at cars in Centennial, snorted meth the night before
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/new...-in-centennial-snorted-meth-the-night-beforer

"After his arrest, Wright told police, &#8220;These people have been f-cking with me so I shot at them.&#8221; Per court documents, Wright also told officers he was snorting meth the night before.

The woman&#8217;s husband later told police that Wright stuck his gun out of the back of the truck by sliding open the cab window. That&#8217;s when Wright allegedly fired the gun at their car."

 

[margarita25]

"If investigating troopers find that vehicle windows shattered because of "some type of projectile," Reid said, they will hand the case over to the Task Force that was formed to investigate the three unsolved shootings, two fatal, in Northern Colorado over the summer." (We've heard that before...)

See comments. People want the truth:
http://www.coloradoan.com/story/new...ofs-shatter-beneath-underpasses--25/74658548/

 

[DeDee]

Two sunroofs shatter beneath underpasses on I-25
http://www.coloradoan.com/story/new...ofs-shatter-beneath-underpasses--25/74658548/

"Two sunroofs shattered on Interstate 25 an hour and a few miles apart in Larimer County on Monday evening while both vehicles drove beneath underpasses.

The sunroof of a Toyota Camry shattered at 4:19 p.m. as the driver traveled beneath an underpass on I-25 between the Windsor and Harmony Road in Fort Collins exits, said Colorado State Patrol spokesman Trooper Nate Reid. The responding trooper found nothing suspicious about the incident, Reid said. It's unknown in which direction the driver was traveling.

At 5:13 p.m., the sunroof of an unknown type of Cadillac shattered as the motorist drove northbound through an underpass at mile marker 271, between Colorado Highway 14 and the Mountain Vista exit. As of 6 p.m. Monday, troopers were still working that case. Reid said CSP was unlikely to have an update on the incident Monday night."


*Veeeery interesting locations...

Forager!

Also from the link:

In April, the Weld County Sheriff's Office tallied 22 incidents involving shattered or broken vehicle windows. Sixteen of those incidents were due to rocks, road debris, excessive vibration or temperature changes.

22 incidents - 16 from debris, etc = 6 shootings
Really? Is it possible the LEO are classifying many reports as debris, etc to keep from alarming motorists? Since these events have happened in the spring and summer months, why didn't road debris, temp. changes, et al cause multiple shatterings in years prior?

I am thrilled they are finding some of the culprits responsible. In the case of Jesse Wright and his meth usage, this is the proper link (I think an extra r was on the other link posted prior.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/new...s-in-centennial-snorted-meth-the-night-before

Wright is being held on a $1 million bond in Arapahoe County Jail on 21 felonies and eight lesser charges:

4 counts of attempted murder after deliberation
4 counts of attempted murder with extreme indifference to human life.
1 count -- illegal discharge of a firearm
5 counts of attempted assault with a deadly weapon.
5 counts of felony menacing with a weapon
1 count of possession of a weapon by a previous offender
1 count of criminal mischief--1 count of obstruction of a peace officer
3 counts of leaving the scene of an accident
2 counts of failing to report an accident
1 count of reckless driving
1 sentence-enhancement charge of violent crime/used weapon

I count 20 felony charges instead of 21. Which one am I missing? Only 28 charges are listed but it should be 29.

 

[margarita25]

Re the latest shattering incidents yesterday, I think I might have been onto something around posts 637 thru 640? http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...Shooter-Has-Colorado-Drivers-on-Edge-3/page43. My computer is totally fried right now so can barely post, but making a note to go back to around these posts re the under/overpasses and cross streets....I think the latest map graphical representations of yesterday's 2 shatterings as well as comparative dates are going to be quite powerful.


So weird, sunrooves? Must be sky debris.

 

[Forager]

Two sunroofs shatter beneath underpasses on I-25
http://www.coloradoan.com/story/new...ofs-shatter-beneath-underpasses--25/74658548/

"Two sunroofs shattered on Interstate 25 an hour and a few miles apart in Larimer County on Monday evening while both vehicles drove beneath underpasses.

The sunroof of a Toyota Camry shattered at 4:19 p.m. as the driver traveled beneath an underpass on I-25 between the Windsor and Harmony Road in Fort Collins exits, said Colorado State Patrol spokesman Trooper Nate Reid. The responding trooper found nothing suspicious about the incident, Reid said. It's unknown in which direction the driver was traveling.

At 5:13 p.m., the sunroof of an unknown type of Cadillac shattered as the motorist drove northbound through an underpass at mile marker 271, between Colorado Highway 14 and the Mountain Vista exit. As of 6 p.m. Monday, troopers were still working that case. Reid said CSP was unlikely to have an update on the incident Monday night."


*Veeeery interesting locations...

Forager!

Here are markers, as orange teardrops for now, for the two sunroof shatterings. I'm not sure that I've got the correct location for the first, more southern of the two: "beneath an underpass on I-25 between the Windsor and Harmony Road in Fort Collins exits". I'm showing it by the Harmony Rd. overpass right near Cory Romero's incident, but there is also an overpass at the Windsor exit. Katie de la Rosa at least tried to get the direction for us on that one in her Coloradoan piece. The distance between the two markers is about six miles. From the case map:



Rocks are thrown from overpasses by kids all the time, of course. I remember once seeing a quote from an Ohio LE spokesman to the effect that the state saw two to three dozen incidents a year of people throwing things a motorists from overpasses. The fact that second attack was made from a different location makes me think that our serial shatterer(s) was at work here. Juvenile jackass attackers rarely have the sense to change locations between attacks. The I-25 shatterer(s) have never hit two cars in the same spot on the same day.

 

[Forager]

Re the latest shattering incidents yesterday, I think I might have been onto something around posts 637 thru 640? http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...Shooter-Has-Colorado-Drivers-on-Edge-3/page43. My computer is totally fried right now so can barely post, but making a note to go back to around these posts re the under/overpasses and cross streets....I think the latest map graphical representations of yesterday's 2 shatterings as well as comparative dates are going to be quite powerful.

So weird, sunrooves? Must be sky debris.

Here are tighter zooms of the two spots, starting with the earlier one, on the assumption that it was just south of the Harmony Rd. overpass. I've put littles scales in in blue to show what 300 feet (one football field) looks like.



The second attack by the Mountain Vista overpass:



I would have felt terribly exposed with a gun or airgun on that overpass or its escarpments in the late afternoon. Am I wrong, Coloradoans, to think that someone on foot in those areas would have stood out like a sore thumb? I would have wanted a getaway car and driver at the ready before I tried that.

 

[margarita25]

Thank you, Forager.

And there you have it folks. Right on top of Romero. I knew it was but I wanted you guys to see it before really commenting.

So, what does this mean? Again, same old questions, copycat? Affiliate? The killer(s)? Unrelated? Coincidence? TAUNTING? We know LE has linked Romero and Jacoby. This could be big. Worth deep examination and a trip downstairs for sure, JMO. I am VERY interested in these latest incidents. They fit many of the same patterns. Unfortunately my device is about to crap out.